BATH MIDDLE SCHOOL student Matthew Beard, left, digs for clams with fellow seventh-grade students at Reid State Park in Georgetown. The outing in late September was the beginning of an exploration by Monica Wright’s science classes into clamming, the role it plays in Maine’s coastal communities, and the threat posed by the invasive European green crabs. As part of the day’s events, students performed water quality sampling and clam dissections with Kennebec Estuary Land Trust (KELT) staff members Ruth Indrick and Becky Kolak, as well as learned about the proper technique and legalities for digging from Kennebec Shellfish Warden Jon Hentz. The field trip introduced students to the clam harvesting industry in preparation for a research project looking at how softshell clams are at risk from the green crab. With support from KELT, the students are going out to two coastal sites in Georgetown and Woolwich to study and measure green crab populations. The project wraps up with the students interviewing members of the community, talking with local residents and harvesters about clamming. The results of the interviews and the green crab study will be presented at a public symposium the students are holding in November.